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APIs · head to head

Dwolla vs Kong Gateway

Dwolla logo

Dwolla

APIs

Account to account payment API for ACH, RTP and FedNow with pay by bank and instant payment routing

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Kong Gateway logo

Kong Gateway

APIs

Open-source and cloud API gateway for managing microservices traffic

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Kong Gateway has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Dwolla nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.; Kong Gateway the free open-source gateway lacks the analytics, portals, and support of the paid Konnect tiers.
  • They diverge on capability: Dwolla covers ACH transfers, Kong Gateway covers API request routing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dwolla and Kong Gateway actually diverge.

Attributes where Dwolla and Kong Gateway differ
AttributeDwollaKong Gateway
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebweb, linux, api
FoundedUnknown2017

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Dwolla

  • ACH transfers
  • Instant payments
  • Rail orchestration
  • Bank account verification
  • Dwolla Balance
  • Webhooks and reconciliation
  • Pay by bank
  • White label flows

Only in Kong Gateway

  • API request routing
  • Plugin ecosystem
  • Developer portals
  • AI Gateway
  • Analytics and observability
  • SSO and audit logs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Dwolla

  • An insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the marginnot Kong Gateway
  • A B2B marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cardsnot Kong Gateway
  • A payroll or gig platform that needs to pay workers instantly and wants the rail chosen automatically by receiving bank capabilitynot Kong Gateway
  • A property management system collecting rent by ACH with verified bank accounts and reliable return handlingnot Kong Gateway

Kong Gateway

  • Routing and securing traffic across microservicesnot Dwolla
  • Publishing internal or external developer portalsnot Dwolla
  • Managing rate limits and authentication at the API edgenot Dwolla
  • Gateway-level routing to multiple LLM providersnot Dwolla

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Dwolla

  • Nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.
  • It is payments only, with no deposit accounts, card issuing or general ledger, so companies embedding financial products need at least one further vendor and the reconciliation between them.
  • Instant payment reach depends on the receiving institution supporting RTP or FedNow, so a meaningful share of payouts still fall back to ACH timing regardless of what the API can do.
  • ACH returns and administrative returns remain your operational problem, and platforms new to bank rails routinely underestimate the customer support load that failed debits generate.
  • Access to instant rails runs through Dwolla banking partner, which reintroduces a bank dependency into a product that otherwise avoids sponsor bank programme risk.

Kong Gateway

  • The free open-source gateway lacks the analytics, portals, and support of the paid Konnect tiers.
  • Plus tier caps API requests at 1M/month before incurring per-million overage charges.
  • Enterprise pricing is custom and not published, making budgeting harder without sales contact.
  • Configuration and plugin management can require significant operational expertise to run at scale.

Pricing, plan by plan

Dwolla

On request
  • Dwolla Payment API$undefined/year
    • Custom pricing built around transaction volume, rails used and integration needs
    • No published per-transaction rates or platform fees
    • Volume based plans for platforms and enterprises

Kong Gateway

Free
  • Free TrialFree
    • 30-day enterprise functionality trial
    • Unlimited gateways
    • 30-day analytics retention
  • Plus$undefined/month
    • Up to 5 serverless, 2 hybrid, 2 dedicated cloud gateways
    • 1M API requests/month included
    • Up to 2 developer portals
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Unlimited hybrid and dedicated cloud gateways
    • Unlimited developer portals
    • SSO and audit logs

Which should you pick?

Choose Dwolla if

  • You need ach transfers.
  • You also want instant payments.
Dwolla review

Choose Kong Gateway if

  • You need api request routing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, linux, api.
  • You also want plugin ecosystem.
Kong Gateway review

Questions people ask

Is Dwolla or Kong Gateway better?
Neither clearly leads. Dwolla starts at On request and Kong Gateway at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dwolla or Kong Gateway?
Kong Gateway has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Dwolla and Free for Kong Gateway.
Does Dwolla or Kong Gateway run on more platforms?
Dwolla runs on Web. Kong Gateway runs on web, linux, api.
Can I use Kong Gateway for free?
Yes. Kong Gateway has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Dwolla starts at On request.
What is Dwolla best used for?
Dwolla is most often used for an insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the margin, a b2b marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cards, a payroll or gig platform that needs to pay workers instantly and wants the rail chosen automatically by receiving bank capability, a property management system collecting rent by ach with verified bank accounts and reliable return handling. Of those, an insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the margin and a b2b marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cards are not what Kong Gateway is typically brought in for.
What can Dwolla do that Kong Gateway cannot?
Dwolla covers ACH transfers, Instant payments, Rail orchestration, Bank account verification. Kong Gateway covers API request routing, Plugin ecosystem, Developer portals, AI Gateway.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dwolla: What does Dwolla cost?

It does not publish anything. Pricing is custom and built around volume, rails and integration. Establish the monthly platform fee and any minimum before negotiating per-transaction rates.

Kong Gateway: Is Kong Gateway free?

Kong's core gateway is open source and free to self-host. Kong Konnect, the managed cloud platform, offers a 30-day free trial before moving to paid Plus or custom Enterprise pricing.

Source
Dwolla: Does it support instant payments?

Yes, through both the RTP network and the FedNow Service, with automatic selection based on the receiving bank. Where neither is supported, payments fall back to ACH.

Kong Gateway: How is usage metered on the Plus plan?

The Plus plan includes 1M API requests per month, with additional usage billed at $200 per extra 1 million requests up to a 10M/month cap, plus per-gateway and per-LLM-model charges.

Source
Dwolla: Is Dwolla a bank?

No. It is a payments platform that works through banking partners. It does not offer deposit accounts or card issuing.

Kong Gateway: What support is included?

Plus includes email support with a 2-business-day SLA, while Enterprise adds dedicated success managers and professional services.

Source
Dwolla: How does bank account verification work?

Either instantly through open banking connections or by micro-deposit verification, which takes a day or two but works where instant linking fails.

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